Richmond, Va. – The Le Moyne College women's basketball team recorded a 55-32 loss at Virginia Commonwealth University (8-1, 0-0 A10) on Tuesday to complete a three-day, two-game trip to Virginia.

Fifth-year senior guard Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) registered a double-double for the second consecutive game, tallying 13 points, a game-high 10 rebounds, a season-high four steals, two assists and two blocks in 37 minutes played.

With 586 career rebounds, Baker is now 12^th all-time on the Le Moyne women's basketball career rebounds list.

Le Moyne freshman guard Leah Middleton (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) made her first career start on Tuesday, while junior guard Emily Florvil (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth) made her first start of the season.

Middleton contributed seven points with two three-point field goals in a season-high 31 minutes played, and Florvil added five points, five rebounds and two assists in a season-high 32 minutes.

Le Moyne freshman forward Sydney Postell (Churchville, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) scored her first collegiate basket in the fourth quarter against the Rams, while graduate forward Kaitlyn Walker (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee/Onondaga C.C./St. John Fisher) scored her first points as a Dolphin.

VCU sophomore guard Mary-Anna Asare scored a team-high 13 points for the Rams, senior guard Sarah Te-Biasu recorded seven points and a team-best three steals, while sophomore guard Timaya Lewis-Eutsey pulled down a team-high eight rebounds to go along with six points.

Le Moyne forced the Rams into 17 turnovers while committing 15, but VCU scored 20 points off turnovers compared to eight for the Dolphins.

The Rams are currently third among all Division I programs in three point percentage defense.

The Dolphins took a 4-2 lead at the 6:03 mark in the first quarter when Florvil kicked out a pass to sophomore guard Sierra Linnin (Valley Cottage, N.Y./Albertus Magnus), who knocked down the three-point field goal.

A three pointer from Te-Biasu with 1:36 left in the opening frame gave the Rams a 12-6 advantage.

With just over 40 seconds left in the first quarter, Baker dribbled the ball at the top of the key then drove to her right, got around her defender and made a layup through contact to cut the deficit to four points.

VCU freshman guard Zoli Khalil drove into the lane during the closing moments of the first, drew a foul on her shot attempt and made both free throws to give the Rams a 14-8 lead after 10 minutes of action.

The Rams went on a 9-0 run to begin the second quarter with the help of five points from Asare.

Baker ended the run by driving to the basket, drawing a shooting foul and sinking both free throws with 3:32 left in the half.

Following the free throws, Baker grabbed a defensive rebound at the other end of the floor, and on the ensuing Le Moyne possession Baker drove into the paint then kicked out a pass to the left wing for Middleton who drained a contested three pointer to make it 23-13 in favor of the home team.

An old-fashioned three-point play by Asare on a VCU fast break with 1:15 left in the second quarter gave the Rams a 28-13 lead at the intermission.

VCU scored the first 11 points of the third quarter to open up a 39-13 lead.

With just over 3:30 left in the third period, VCU broke through Le Moyne's full court pressure and raced across half court in transition. The ball was thrown to the left side of the court, where Baker was between the ball handler and a shooter in the corner. The ball was passed to the corner, and Baker raced over to contest the shot. Baker blocked the shot attempt, grabbed the ball with just inches between her toes and the sideline, and flicked a pass to redshirt-junior forward Haedyn Roberts (Holland Patent, N.Y./Holland Patent) before falling into the VCU bench to save possession for the 'Phins.

As Florvil brought the ball the other way, Baker raced up the right sideline.

Florvil handed the ball to Baker on the right wing, then Baker put a series of moves on her defender before smoothly knocking down a midrange jumper.



In the final seconds of the third quarter, Baker caught the ball in the left corner, dribbled to her right then kicked out a pass to Middleton who swished her second three pointer of the game just before the buzzer.

With 4:13 left in the fourth period, Florvil dribbled from left to right on the perimeter, got past her defender with a quick change of direction, then drove into the middle of the paint and drew the attention of all five VCU defenders before delivering a pass to Postell on the right side of the floor. Postell quickly released the midrange jumper over a Ram defender and hit nothing but net to record her first field goal at the collegiate level.

With 2:24 remaining in the contest, freshman guard Zhara Adeyemi (Brooklyn, N.Y./South Shore) threw a pass into the paint for Walker who was posting up her defender. Walker made a contested catch in the lane, then took a dribble and pivoted around her defender for a left-handed layup, her first basket as a Dolphin.

The Le Moyne women's basketball team will return to action on Friday with a non-conference matchup at Colgate University at 6:00 p.m.

Le Moyne's eight opponents so far this season hold a combined record of 49-16.

Quotes from Le Moyne head coach Mary Grimes:

On Lytoya Baker's performance: "She's everything for us. She's our heart. She told me before the game she was ready to go and she proved it. I can't say enough about her, she does everything. I mean she blocked a shot on the sideline, tipped it and got it back. And then the next play down she gets another tip, so she's stuffing the stats and she's doing whatever she can to help us win, I'm super proud of her."

On Sydney Postell's play in the fourth quarter: "Sydney played well, everyone who came in just kind of played their game. I'm super proud of them. Sydney Postell, she's been having unbelievable practices, she's got great attitude every day, so it showed in her minutes, she's paying attention to the scout. Sometimes she has to be on the scout team and I told her she's got the cheat code because she knows the offense that the other team is going to run. So, I'm super proud of her too."

On the team playing hard for all 40 minutes: "We talked about it in the timeout. That's part of our culture, that's part of who we are, that's our identity. If the ball is on the floor everybody is diving for it… It was a gentle reminder that that's what we do. It was cool to see that the bench players heard that and continued that with their minutes."

On holding VCU to a season-low 55 points: "Going into the fourth quarter we talked about keeping them to 56 or under. That was super impressive. With the bench players coming in it helped us defensively and we held their leading scorer to seven points… I think defensively we're right on track with where we need to be and we'll still continue to figure things out offensively."